Are you part of the 67% of American households that, according to the ESRB, game regularly? Whether you’ve built or bought an enthusiast’s gaming PC or you’re more of a console gamer, you are part of a revolution in entertainment not seen since the rise of “talkies,” movies with spoken dialogue, in the 1920’s. According to TED, human beings across the planet spend a combined three billion hours a week playing video games.
It’s easy to think that the only thing your gaming lifestyle needs to survive is a host of great games and great systems, PC, console, or handheld, to play them on, especially when you consider that the latest console generation is expected to push video game industry sales to $93 billion by the end of 2013, according to BGR. However, what you might not realize is your gaming experience is contingent on many tiny finishing products inside your systems. Here are three of the most important.
- Threaded Standoffs
- Cable Glands
- Rubber Grommets
As Tom’s Hardware suggests, a computer or video game console without threaded standoffs is a fire hazard and extremely expensive paperweight just waiting to happen. If you’ve ever built a computer, you know that your motherboard sits on top of a number of screws that elevate it off the side of your case; those are threaded standoffs. By keeping your motherboard from touching case walls, threaded standoffs help prevent case fires and component shorts. The same holds true in video game consoles.
Cable glands are used in a wide variety of hardware setups, video cards, motherboards, and more as a way of improving wire management. By running wires through cable glands, they can be kept out of the way of fans and other moving parts, protecting them from being sheered. Of course, cable glands have the added benefit of keeping case setups looking nice and clean.
If you’ve ever used an enthusiast case to build a new gaming PC, you’re well acquainted with rubber grommets of all sizes. Built into everything from desks to tables to video game consoles, rubber grommets allow you to easily route cables throughout your case, without leaving you to worry that a sharp corner is going to gouge into them, thereby rendering your system as dead weight.
While the quality of games,PCs, handhelds, and gaming consoles are incredibly important to the success of the gaming industry, not to mention your gaming lifestyle, just remember that there is more than meets the eye. Without finishing products, chances are pretty good that you’d find your favorite system melting or bricked before you know it. More on this: www.alliance-express.com
